Life is in the Multiverse
by elmatto2
Summary: The Thande Institute investigates alternate timelines, so when they encounter anomalies with Timeline MX, they send their best field agent along to investigate. Meanwhile, Max and Chloe continue to drift after the storm, but when someone wants them dead, they discover its hard to adjust to the new life of theirs.. (May be Pricefield, bit torn on the subject, Includes some violence)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfiction. After watching people play and reading around life is strange, I realised that the characters in the game need more justice, I wanted to know what happened next, what could happen, and so on…**

 **But I wanted a twist on it. In this, I have used many ideas (such as the Thande institute, and the idea of the multiverse war) from Christopher Nuttall's Multiverse war books, as such, there will be references to those scattered. Since the canon in those books have been adapted and several years and events aren't too clear, I will obviously be doing my take on it and bits of that canon may be discarded. Due to the fact that there is no section for his books on , nor do I know how to add a section for his books, nor are his books very well known, I have placed this is the life is strange section as most of the story takes place in its timeline.**

 **I will be having an OC in this story. All I will be saying at the moment about him is that he works for the Institute and is searching for a certain brunette in a different timeline.**

 **(For future reference, Timeline A is the timeline with the OC and institute. The Life is strange timeline is Timeline MX, after you know who).**

 **Legal disclaimer: to be safe, I don't own anything except my OC character. His background/origins, I dont own at all.**

 **So, without further ado, let's begin.**

* * *

Location: Outside existence

Date: Irrelevant

Welcome to the Multiverse. In this place, whole universes are seen, everything that ever happened, or ever will is visible, every timeline, every change, everything. And in this place, let us imagine that there are some people, for your sake, imagine them as humans. They can see over existence, and they watch.

"There is an anomaly." What could be imagined as a female stated.

"In what way?" Another being, a male this time, asked with a tone in his voice that could be frustration.

The female brought her arm around and scanned through the realities until she found it, the picture of the reality that contained the anomaly. Then a second image appeared. It was of a huge tornado, sweeping through a small town on a coast somewhere, tearing up the houses and various buildings within it. It was ferocious, and was the embodiment of nature's fury.

But the male was unimpressed.

"You still haven't answered me; in what way could a simple storm of nature be considered an anomaly?"

The female looked at him. "In every other reality similar to the reality here, there is no storm, and this timeline is so similar to those timelines that there should have been no opportunity for the storm to have been created, that is the anomaly."

The male caught on to what the female was going to imply. "You suspect Enemy interference?"

The Female nodded. "What I don't understand though is why the enemy is interfering so directly, they usually wouldn't dare act so aggressively in pushing timelines to their favour. The inevitability wave would be devastating…"

"So what do you think would be the best course of action?"

The female brought up an image of a person; a young human women, brunette hair, freckles. She appeared shy, and inconspicuous. The male caught on again.

"You want to turn her into an agent, why?"

"If there is enemy interference, I believe she can stop it, she's unassuming and she was by the event as it happened, she could find out what the enemy have been up to, not that she'd know of the mission, obviously. I also suggest we give her powers."

"What powers?"

"Limited time manipulation abilities"

"That's insane, she could cause more trouble than its worth."

"We have to find out what's happening, so I'm giving her the powers."

"Fine." The male accepted. "But if it doesn't work. I'll be the one eliminating the timeline myself."

The female nodded again. "That is acceptable."

Location: Seattle (Timeline MX)

* * *

Time: Monday 14th October 2013 (Local time)

In a café, somewhere in Seattle, a man was sipping some coffee and browsing the internet on a tablet device. His posture was relaxed, though was closed, he did not like chatting to people who would waste his time. His hair was dark and he was clean shaven, he looked to be in his mid-20s, though his eyes would suggest he's lived a lot longer than that. He wore a simple black hoodie and some tattered jeans, and wore a very simple baseball cap on his head.

"Some more coffee?" The waitress asked, gesturing towards the empty coffee mug on the table the man was sitting at.

"Much appreciated thanks." The man replied with. He had a generic English accent, one that you would probably find anywhere in southern England, at least in this timeline. The waitress nodded, took his cup, and left back towards the kitchen behind the serving counter, several meters away. The man continued looking at the tablet. He was looking at the news, mostly, and was exploring what was going on. Not much apparently, a boat had capsized, leaving 34 dead, but other than that, not much else.

 _Damnit Cambridge, why did you send me here, to this shithole of a timeline?_

He looked further through the news, but there was still absolutely nothing of any interest to the man.

 _Did you lot send me here as a prank, why would you need me to investigate this anyway? The timeline is boring and I swear no-one back at the institute cares about this anyway._

"Here you go." The waitress placed the new coffee on the table and walked off back to the counter.

The man acknowledged her and carried on looking through the news. He then reached down into his pocket and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of the person Cambridge wanted him to investigate. He thought this must've be a prank, Cambridge surely wouldn't send him after a person like in the picture, or indeed after people at all.

It was at this point that a small side article on the news page caught his attention and snapped him out of his thoughts. It was of a small costal town called Arcadia Bay being destroyed by a tornado, and it had happened very recently, the previous Friday in-fact.

 _Now why isn't that top story news?_

He looked through the article, and pictures of the devastation. It had been a truly horrific tornado, and hundreds were feared dead or missing. He looked at the list printed on the website, and skimmed through it.

He then stopped and looked at a particular spot on the page. It was of a name in the missing person's space.

The man blinked, and looked at the photo in his hand, with information, and moved back to the name on the page.

It was the same person; same date of birth, same age, same general info, same everything.

 _Shit, seems Cambridge may have been serious…_

He looked down at the photo in his hand, and looked at the person within the photo. It was of a girl, early adult, it appeared, with freckles, and brunette hair approximately neck height. It was hard to tell her height, though she wasn't that tall compared to the people around her.

He looked at her name once more and drunk his coffee quickly, he then paid his bill and tip and quickly left the café, heading towards his rented car parked on the side of the road. He got in and drove away rather quickly. He was heading for Arcadia Bay. On the way though, he couldn't help but think about the name on the photo; the name that Cambridge had given him as the target of the timeline insertion.

 _Caulfield, Max Caulfield…._

* * *

Location: Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, USA (Timeline MX)

Time: Monday 14th October 2013 (Local time)

She bolted upright, shivering, and cold. She looked to the window, it was shut, and it was night outside. She thought back to her dream… _no, nightmare._ She shuddered, but she wasn't sure why. She was wrapped up in a warm… _ish_ blanket. It was only then that she realised someone was hugging her, rather tightly, someone with blue hair. She broke away from the hug and looked at the girl with blue hair.

"Max, what happened? Another nightmare?" The blue haired girl asked with concern in her voice. Max nodded, and tears began to well up in her eyes. The blue haired girl quickly moved over to hug Max again, just as Max began to cry.

The blue haired girl held Max for what seemed like hours, until Max could no longer cry. After that, they weren't in the mood for sleeping again. They got up, and prepared for another day's driving around.

Since the Storm, Max and the Blue haired girl, called Chloe, according to a little graffiti on her truck, had been drifting around the Pacific Northwest for several days. They had stayed in hotels, ones that they could afford, so they weren't very upscale, and would probably be classed by anyone as near-shitholes, but Chloe and Max didn't care. They had been through hell-and-back the previous week, and they didn't give a shit about where they stayed, as long as it had a bed, decent bathroom facilities and they had each other. They had also been attempting to come to terms with the storm, and what caused it, and they had also been trying to come to terms with the fact that many people had died in it.

They had both taken this different ways. Whereas Chloe had tried to bother her mind with other things, Max had taken to crying periodically, and sleeping, not to mention eating and hugging Chloe a lot. That seemed to help quite a bit.

It wasn't until later that day that Chloe attempted to ask Max.

"Max….Max….." She gently said, prodding Max, who was sleeping in the passenger seat of her pickup truck. It took a few more prods and more Max calling until she began to stir.

"….huh…." Max yawned and stretched in the truck seat. Chloe looked at her and saw her eyes, they were bloodshot. _She's hella exhausted…._ She realised, and quickly asked her a question she knew she'd get a response to. "Max, there's a fast food place next turn off, wanna get something to fill you up?"

Max quickly considered Chloe and nodded very rapidly. No more needed to be said, Chloe quickly drove the car out of the Hotel car park towards the Freeway junction, and onto the Freeway.

After eating, they spent most of day driving about, as had become common for them to do. Since the previous week, they had drifted away from Arcadia Bay and north towards Seattle, where Max's Parents lived, but it was going to be a long drive and so they'd drifted around on the Freeway, going to this place and that, aimlessly.

"Chloe?" Max asked that evening, when they were back in a hotel room somewhere. Chloe immediately sat next to Max on the bed and observed her.

"Yeah?" Chloe was nervous; she was worried about what Max might say next…

"We need to go back to the Bay." She stated simply. Chloe gazed at her, and looked at her eyes, they were silent in emotion.

"Max, are you sure?" Chloe asked in caution, aware that the conversation might end in one, or both, of them crying.

"I mean-"She continued, "are you ready to go back there? After all that happened?"

Max looked towards the bed, and her head drooped slightly. "I don't know…" she said quietly. She then raised her head slightly, her voice trembled. "But, I want to know what's happened…What-" She then raised her hands towards her head and continued. "What I've caused…" She let her emotions overtake her and she began to sob quietly. Chloe ran to her and quickly wrapped her arms around her, and hugged her in a tight embrace.

"Max, whatever's happened, whether it was caused by your powers or not, has happened, and it wasn't your fault, at all" She hugged Max more. "I sure as hella won't let it be your fault, you hear me?" Max nodded, as her sobs subsided to weeps and small tears. Chloe continued to hold her more.

When Max was mostly stable, Chloe continued. "If you think this is the right decision, then we could go there tomorrow….som…sometime." Chloe's voice began to stutter. Max realised that this meant that Chloe was beginning to emotionally break down. Max, who was still teary at this point, leant back over to hug Chloe, as Chloe let out a weekends worth of emotion and tears. Max began to let out her emotions as the two began to sob again, locked in the embrace.

Later on, when they had let out most of their emotions, they looked at each other. Each other's gaze confirmed what the other was thinking. They were going to Arcadia Bay. Max saw Chloe and asked "Should we do this?" Her voice quivered.

Chloe put on a brave face, and embraced Max again.

"Hella yes."


	2. Chapter 2

Location: A Bunker, 20 Miles outside Arcadia Bay (Timeline MX)

Date: Monday 4th November 2002 (Local time)

The bunker was of an old cold war design, designed to be able to withstand a near-direct nuclear strike. Of course, no such thing ever happened, and the bunker gradually fell into disuse. That is, of course, until a rather rich fellow decided to buy it and turn it into his own little fortress beneath the earth. It was in here that rather unsavoury deals were made, deals that it would be a good idea the outside world were not made aware of. These were deals that could change the lives of millions, and equally ruin the lives of millions more. Bribery, espionage, fraud, political assassinations, Arms deals, and deals that could sway elections, it had all been done in this bunker.

But today, a rather different deal was being made…

"Good evening gentlemen, I trust you all had pleasant trips here?" Said a man, who was clearly the one in charge.

The other Gentlemen nodded politely, and proceeded to sit down at their respective places around a large wooden table. The meeting was in what was most likely the most luxurious room in the bunker. Red silk adorned the table and there were several large exotic plants around the room. The walls were filled with paintings and other items that shouted wealth, clearly the owner was someone who liked to throw their money around.

"Today" The Man in charge began, "We are here to discuss the terms of an agreement, about the use of a new piece of technology that could change the world." The other gentlemen listened in intently, as the Man in charge began to explain the technologies purpose, how it worked and what it did. Some gentlemen began taking notes, about how the technology could benefit them, mostly, others sat at their places open-mouthed, _clearly their minds were too closed to such a technology_.

"…..and that's all, any questions, or inquiries?"

There was silence, and then a man spoke up. "Would there be any purpose in weaponizing this piece of technology, surely there would be more purpose in doing that given the current...er, instability, in world politics?"

"Indeed, There would, but the brilliant thing about this beautiful piece of technology is that weaponisation isn't necessary as it can be directed anywhere, therefore it can be aimed at a location where it isn't needed and is suddenly as dangerous as a weapon." He looked around, "anymore questions?"

A second person spoke. "I understand that you found this technology a while ago, will you be doing any further testing of it?"

"Of course there will be further testing, this technology is new and must therefore be treated with the utmost care and consideration. We will of course update you all on various results in due course. Now, I trust you will all consider the use of the technology as I believe it will be very important. I must also of course let you all know that the use of the technology is on a strictly confidential basis, you will alert no-one to its use, unless they are very loyal contacts in government. Since the technology is still being tested and developed, the price for use is very high at the current time, but will decrease, as we begin to improve and replicate the technology." The Man in charge paused, and looked around the table, as the other Gentlemen finished scribbling down their notes.

"I believe that is all for now, Gentlemen" The Man in charge stated. "I will send the Guards to escort you to your rooms. Tomorrow, I shall show you a demonstration of the device in action. Have a pleasant evening." The Man in charge smiled as Guards walked in and began to collect the Gentlemen, one by one.

When all the Gentlemen had been escorted away, the Man in charge sat in his chair once more and called in a Butler.

"Send me a copy of the results for the latest test, Now!"

The Butler quickly entered the room, then quickly left again. "Certainly, Mr Prescott."

Mr Prescott sat in his chair as he wondered about the new device, how it worked, and how he was lucky enough to stumble across it.

 _I have infinite possibilities with this….I could change the world, and of course get so much richer in the process….I could give it to the government….no, they're too dumb to know how to properly use this to its potential….best leave it in the hands of private individuals…._

He continued to think thoughts such as this, until he was interrupted from his train of thoughts by his butler, who had just once more walked through the door into the room. The Butler handed him the test results.

Mr Prescott looked down upon the paper with the results on it. It looked to be a perfect success, all tests passed with flying colours. _Perfect…_

"Excellent, fetch me a glass of the finest champagne we have!" The butler nodded and proceeded to leave the room.

Less than two minutes later, he re-emerged and poured a glass of sparkling champagne into a champagne glass he had provided Mr Prescott. Mr Prescott raised his glass into the air, as if he was toasting something, then began to drink his glass.

At that moment, a second butler entered the room, and handed Mr Prescott a folder.

"What is this?! Can't you see I'm busy?!" Mr Prescott was none too pleased to be interrupted.

"I'm sorry, sir, it was urgent..." The second butler quickly replied, and left the room.

Mr Prescott placed his glass on the table and looked through the folder. It was the terms of an arms agreement he was signing with the Iraqi's, illegal of course, but it was a very lucrative offer. _Greater_ _chance to make some_ _more_ _money…_

Mr Prescott flicked to the main agreement page of the folder, and signed it with his signature, then he handed it to the first butler.

"Usual protocol, hand it back to them, and let our contact know that we will send the first shipment by the end of next January. Do you understand?"

The butler accepted. "Certainly sir. Certainly." He walked out of the room, folder in hand.

Mr Prescott began to drink his drink once more, and continued to ponder on how much money he could make from this new technology.

* * *

Location: A Bunker, 20 Miles outside Arcadia Bay (Timeline MX)

Date: Monday 14th October 2013 (Local time)

Mr Prescott was not having a good day, he was irritated and cross, and he really needed a drink. However, not all was bad, he had the results from his latest experiment on that very same technology he found all those years before, and it was good, a great success. It had been huge, and it had caused much carnage and mayhem, billions of dollars in damages.

 _Now I have true power…._ Was all he thought of, as he walked with a quick and purposeful stride through the corridors of the bunker, heading towards the meeting room, with the pictures and the wooden table within it. The corridor was rather bare, _no, functional is a better word._

He passed doors leading of to other areas of the bunker. The actual bunker was hugely extensive, and since he had acquired it, it had been massively upgraded to suit his every need. And it had been turned into a fortress in the process. However, he had no need to look around as he travelled down the corridor, he knew the bunker like the back of his hand. He knew where every nook and cranny was, where every defence system was, and where every ventilation shaft was. Not that he'd ever need to know such things, but you could never be too careful, and you never know which guards are traitors ready to slit your throat.

He put these unpleasant thoughts to the back of his head as he finally arrived at the doors leading into the large meeting room. He briskly entered, and addressed the Men in the room.

"You may all sit down." The men all sat down. "The first large-scale experiment has occurred, it was a huge success. I must thank you all for your support, and your generous funding of the project. Your payments shall be arriving into your accounts shortly."

Mr Prescott moved to his chair and sat in it. He picked up a glass of champagne from the table that the butlers had poured, and raised it above his head.

"I call a toast, to our project, and to our collective prosperity!" He watched as the other Gentlemen agreed and began to drink their glasses. Mr Prescott never smiled during this toast, and nor did any of the others who were there. They all knew that they were only there for their own benefits and interest. Not to mention, they all really wanted more cash, as if it was a compulsive habit.

Then Mr Prescott lowered his glass, and his voice. "Now gentlemen, there was somewhat of a hitch with the experiment, we have reason to believe that some of the people within the town, and indeed, around it, know that it wasn't a natural disaster. As a result, I fear we may be compromised." He looked around at the others who were sat around the table. Their faces showed a mixture of dread and possibly anger, though it wasn't possible to determine who said anger was directed at.

Mr Prescott began to talk again. "I believe the only way to remove any evidence of our involvement in the disaster is to….eliminate….those who lived to tell the tale." He turned to one of the members of the table, an elderly man who appeared battle-hardened and had greying hair, though it was once black. "I believe that you will be able to help with that, I hear your men are ready for any challenge. I want you to eliminate all those on the ground, including any local police force." Mr Prescott then turned to another member of the group. "I want you to prevent the local government and indeed, the federal government, from questioning the actions. Pump in as much money as necessary, I don't want them to know anything unless they are a suitable contact high up." Mr Prescott took a deep breath.

He looked around the table. "I believe that is all gentlemen, we shall meet again shortly." The Men around the table nodded to show their agreement and left the room.

Mr Prescott looked around the empty table, then he called in a butler. "Has our 'guest' arrived yet?"

The butler hurried in, and quickly replied. "Yes sir, the Police brought him in this morning."

"Excellent, bring him to the questioning room, I need to have a word with him." Mr Prescott said the words with malice, and with a stern voice.

"Yes sir."

* * *

The Questioning room was a rather bare room, with no windows and a lone, slightly swinging light-bulb above a solitary chair. Behind the chair was a grey concrete wall. There were cracks in it, and on the floor, there were a few blood stains. Clearly some unsightly things had happened in this room.

At this point in time though, there was an individual tied to the chair. He had brown hair, and wore some black glasses that looked as though they costed a lot of money. He was tall, and many would say he was handsome. Though not anymore, he now had a tired look on his face, as if he wanted everything to be over with.

This was Mark Jefferson.

Mr Prescott entered the room with a guard in tow, opening the steel door to the room easily. He nodded to the two police officers guarding Mr Jefferson, who promptly left. Mr Prescott stood in front of Mr Jefferson and stared, silently at him.

He then asked "Where is Nathan?" His tone was like steel, hard and unwavering. Mr Jefferson was silent.

Mr Prescott asked again "Where is Nathan?" Mr Jefferson remained silent.

Mr Prescott tried a different tactic, and asked "Why did you spend my money on that room?" Mr Jefferson was still silent, staring at the floor. He looked up, his brown eyes cutting a gaze at Mr Prescott, and looked down once more.

Mr Prescott nodded to the guard. The guard walked to Mr Jefferson and punched him once across the face. A crack was heard, and blood splattered from where Mr Jefferson's now broken nose was. Mr Jefferson cried out in pain and looked at Mr Prescott, whose gaze and face showed no sympathy.

Mr Prescott asked again "Where is Nathan?!" His tone was rising. Mr Jefferson remained silent, blood now pouring out of his nose. He then said in a mocking tone "He was so stupid…believing that I cared about him...believing that he could be any use to me, other than a scapegoat with which I could use…it was a shame really...if only he hadn't killed that girl...Rachel...then he would still be here..."

Mr Prescott was shocked. Nathan was dead. His son, the one he wanted to inherit the fortune, was dead. Mr Prescott looked at Mr Jefferson once, looked at his son's killer, and quickly took a pistol from the guards pocket next to him and pistol-whipped Mr Jefferson around the head. Mr Jefferson grunted from the pain. Mr Prescott then asked, seething, "Where is his body?"

Mr Jefferson replied in another mocking tone "I'm not telling you."

"I will kill you, now tell me where the body is!" Mr Prescott yelled.

Mr Jefferson replied with nothing but silence. Mr Prescott sensed he was slightly smug. His rage could only be contained so long. "Tell me now."

Silence...and more silence.

Mr Prescott had had enough, he yelled and pistol-whipped Mr Jefferson around the head once more, then he aimed the pistol at one of Mr Jefferson's knees, and pulled the trigger.

The bullet passed through the kneecap, shattering the bone and causing a very bloody mess in what used to be Mr Jefferson's knee. Mr Jefferson screamed in agony and Mr Prescott aimed for the other kneecap, pulling the trigger, and shattering the other one. Before asking any more questions, he aimed the gun to Mr Jefferson's head, and pulled the trigger a third time.

Mr Jefferson died instantly, blood splattering around the room where his now lifeless body sat.

Mr Prescott spoke to the guard "Clear up this mess."

* * *

He walked out of the room and pulled out his phone. He dialled a number and spoke. "I believe we are ready to commence, begin the operation."

The voice on the other end spoke "At once."


End file.
